Six are arrested following multiple fights in Hillside

Google street viewA street view of Hillside High School, where the first of several fights that broke out around town Wednesday began.

HILLSIDE — Within minutes of the final bell at Hillside High School on Wednesday, as students spilled into the streets, a fight broke out between two teens. They fought on the hood of a woman’s car, with she and two young children still inside, authorities said.

Police arrived quickly, but it was too late — a fuse had been lit and for about three blocks, streets quickly grew chaotic, impassable to traffic, police said.

"Usually when you separate two or more, that kind of ends," said Lt. Louis Rufino, the afternoon’s shift commander. "But this particular time, multiple fights broke out."

Some 75 to 100 young people were involved in numerous fights along Liberty Avenue, one of the township’s main streets, and on nearby roads, police said. Businesses owners locked their doors while employees and patrons took cover inside. Traffic stopped as students dashed across streets and ran over the hoods of cars.

The scale of the fighting quickly overwhelmed officers, four police officials said, and the melees went on for more than an hour. Police described the scene as a large number of individual fights, rather than a battle between groups they could identify.

"Yesterday was out of control. That’s the only way to describe it," said Chief Robert Quinlin. "We had to call in the Union County police. That’s something we rarely do. And we had to do it to restore order to the township."

It’s not clear what had sparked the fights.

Amid the chaos, a 63-year-old crossing guard was injured in a robbery, police said. A group of young people swarmed her, and someone snatched her purse, authorities said. She was not seriously wounded.

When things had settled down around 4 p.m., six juveniles had been arrested on a number of charges, including resisting arrest and assault, said Lt. Vincent Ricciardi, a spokesman for the department.

Quinlin said recent police layoffs worsened the situation. Had more officers been available about 25 people would have been arrested, he said.

For 15 years, there has been periodic unrest when school dismisses, but police have controlled it for seven or eight years, he said.

"It’s making it more difficult for us to control violent crime and disturbances such as these," he said.